Beyond the Page: The Poet’s Role in Shaping Contemporary Culture, Sponsored by Alice James Books
Saturday, March 20, 2027, 10:35 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. CT
Alice James Books presents a conversation on poetry’s evolving role within contemporary arts and culture, exploring the poetic form as both artistic practice and cultural engagement. AJB poets DeeSoul Carson and Shara McCallum will read from The Laughing Barrel and Behold, alongside José Olivarez (Promises of Gold) and Shane McCrae (New and Collected Hell). Moderated by Brittany Rogers, the conversation explores poetry’s intersections with music, visual art, performance, politics, and public life.
Panelist Bios:
DeeSoul Carson is the author of The Laughing Barrel, forthcoming from Alice James Books. For his work, he has received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship, and a Baldwin for the Arts Fellowship, among others. Find more of his work at DeesoulPoetry.com.
Shara McCallum is the author of seven books published in the US and UK, including Behold, No Ruined Stone, and Madwoman. Recognition for her work includes a Guggenheim Fellowship, NEA Poetry Fellowship, Musgrave Medal, OCM Bocas Poetry Prize, Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and others. From Jamaica, of Jamaican and Venezuelan parentage, McCallum teaches and directs the creative writing program at Penn State, where she is a Sparks Professor of English.
José Olivarez is the son of Mexican immigrants and the author of two collections of poems, including, most recently, Promises of Gold, which was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. In 2025, he received an Individual Artist Fellowship award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and was named a 21st Century Award recipient by the Chicago Public Library Foundation.
Shane McCrae’s most recent full-length book of poetry is New and Collected Hell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025), and his most recent chapbooks are Two Appearances After the Resurrection (Omnidawn, 2026) and Songs and Sonnets (Broken Sleep Books, 2025). He has edited a volume of John Berryman's uncollected Dream Songs, titled Only Sing (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025). McCrae’s awards include a Lannan Literary Award and a Whiting Award, and he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.
Brittany Rogers is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and lifelong Detroiter. She is editor in chief of Muzzle Magazine and author of Good Dress (Tin House, 2024), a finalist the NAACP Image Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry, among others. Rogers is a 2026 Whiting Award winner.
Photo Credit: Beowulf Sheehan